Hot-Cross Buns: Giving Tradition A Fresh Accent

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Published: March 20, 1991

HOT and cross. That's the way The London Daily Telegraph described a reader who complained about the high price of hot-cross buns in 1972. They had long since increased in price beyond the usual "one a penny, two a penny" of the 18th-century nursery rhyme.

Elizabeth David, the English food writer, mentioned this incident in "English Bread and Yeast Cookery" (Viking Press, 1980) and went on to say that "frozen and cross" was more like it. She said that giant commercial bakeries that make the buns often used acrid, artificial flavorings -- well in advance of Good Friday, when they are traditionally eaten -- and then freeze them for later sale. Her solution to the problems of rising prices and decreasing quality was to make them at home.

The English custom of serving the sweet, fruit-studded buns seasoned with spices like nutmeg and clove and decorated with a cross only for Good Friday may come as a surprise to Americans accustomed to seeing them in bakeries and supermarkets from the beginning of Lent through Easter.

"I noticed hot-cross buns in February, and it seemed so strange because it wasn't Good Friday," said Jane Kettlewell, a publicist from Sussex in southern England, who has been working in New York for six years. "We would always have hot-cross buns for breakfast on Good Friday, split, toasted and buttered, but never before the holiday."

Ms. Kettlewell said she saw the buns for sale in an Italian bakery in Astoria. She would also have seen them in a German bakery, Stork's, in nearby Whitestone. They're also made at Les Friandises, a French-style bakery on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, and elsewhere in the country by a variety of bakeries.

Of all the sweet, buttery, eggy, yeast-raised Easter breads that are part of the holiday celebration in countries throughout Europe, hot-cross buns appear to have most easily crossed ethnic lines when they crossed the Atlantic.

"We have to sell hot-cross buns," said Richard Tarlow, one of the buyers at Balducci's in Greenwich Village. "It's a seasonal thing."

Howard Weber, the owner of the New Glarus Bakery, a Swiss bakery in New Glarus, Wis., said, "Hot-cross buns are something you grow up with, and the popularity of them seems to be increasing, if anything."

Madge Rosenberg, who owns Soutine, a small bakery on the Upper West Side, has been making hot-cross buns for several years in response to customers' requests. Her buns, like those made by the best bakers, call for dried currants and no bits of candied fruit.

"Everyone hates the candied fruit," Ms. Rosenberg said.

The origin of hot-cross buns is said to be pagan. The Saxons supposedly ate a similar kind of bun in the spring, at the time of the vernal equinox, to honor the goddess of light, Eastre, as she was named for the direction from which the first light of the day first comes.

The goddess eventually gave her name to the Christian holiday. The term bun may have evolved from the Greek word for ox; in ancient Greece a dome of bread, like the head of an ox, came to replace the actual animal for sacrificial ceremonies. At first there were horns decorating the bread. But over time the horns disappeared, leaving only what is now familiar as a bun.

Hot-cross buns first became popular in England as a Good Friday specialty after the Reformation, in the late 16th century at the time of the Tudors.

A decree issued by the London clerk of markets during the reign of Elizabeth I in 1592 prohibited the baking and sale by commercial bakers of "any spice cakes, buns, biscuits or other spice bread except it be at burials, or on Friday before Easter, or at Christmas, upon pain of forfeiture of all such spiced bread to the poor."

In those days spices were rare and precious commodities.

In the early 17th century, during the reign of James I, of King James Bible fame, this decree became unenforceable and spice buns started to be sold throughout the year.

A hot-cross bun is essentially what the English call a Chelsea bun, a confection sold all year. The difference is that for Good Friday, a cross is traced on the top of the bun. English bakers create the cross by slashing the dough or by laying strips of pastry across the top of the bun. There is a theory that the cross was slashed in the top of the buns as a vestige of pagan belief, to ward off any evil spirits that might jinx the dough and prevent it from rising.

But with a cross cut in the dough, instead of frosting applied on top, it is possible to toast and butter the buns, as the English often do. Toasting will melt a cross done in frosting.

And as a matter of fact, the buns are called hot cross for good reason. There is no doubt that these tender little currant-studded buns, fragrant with spice, are at their best when served warm, preferably soon after they have been baked.

Hot-cross buns tend to become dry once they have cooled or have set out overnight. But that does not necessarily inhibit their usefulness. One English tradition is to hang dried out hot-cross buns in the window for an entire year as a good-luck charm. EASTER BREADS WITH SPICE

1. Mix the yeast with 4 tablespoons of the warm milk in a small bowl and set aside about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cream 4 tablespoons of the butter and brown sugar and beat in the eggs. When yeast mixture becomes frothy, stir it in, along with the spices, salt and remaining warm milk. Beat in the flour a cup at a time until a soft ball of dough can be gathered together. Dough can be mixed by machine if desired.

3. Place dough on a floured work surface and lightly knead in the currants, adding more flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking. Kneading should take no more than a few minutes.

4. Using some of the remaining butter, grease a bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to butter all sides. Cover and set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

5. Butter two baking sheets with the remaining butter.

6. Punch the dough down, divide it in half, then divide each piece in half again. Divide each portion of dough into six equal pieces and shape each into a ball.

7. Place balls of dough on baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them. Set aside, covered lightly with waxed paper, to rise until they have doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.

8. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

9. Carefully slash a cross into the top of each bun, using a very sharp razor blade and cutting through the skin of the dough at least one-quarter inch deep. Or snip a small cross in the top with sharp scissors. Try not to compress the bun as you cut.

10. Bake buns about 20 minutes, until they are lightly browned. Just before they come out of the oven, bring milk and sugar mixture to a boil. As soon as buns are done, brush them with milk and sugar glaze.

11. Allow the buns to cool for 30 minutes, then serve while still warm.

12. If desired, or if you have not cut the cross into the tops of the buns, the cross can be applied with icing. The buns must be completely cooled before the icing is applied. Mix the confectioners' sugar with the cold milk and lemon juice and, using the handle of a spoon or a chopstick, spread the icing to form a cross on top or to fill the cross-shaped cut.